


The Assassin's Crown

by Syhlia



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27957119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syhlia/pseuds/Syhlia





	The Assassin's Crown

The night was bright with festivities. Lanterns glowing, vendors promoting their goods, the crowds bustling with families in all sorts of clothing and masks. The streets smelled of several different types of food and treats. Birds swooped in occasionally to steal food that people of several races dropped while racing around to every store and attraction. The main thing that stood out was the atmosphere. Instead of cheery, everyone had forced smiles hidden behind masks, careful conversations, and everything felt intensely wrong. 

That wasn't what surprised Kyler though. He was used to this atmosphere. After all, it was hard to be happy after the threats and attacks on the royal family. Only this week, the Duke of Arrieth, the Queen mother and father, several maids and guards had been murdered. We all knew it was one person. Each one was murdered in the same way. The first murder took place at the dead of night. He heart had been carved out, and he was pinned to the wall with daggers. The guards were all asleep with sleeping draught. Apparently, this killer wasn't the type to kill everyone in his path. 

The news had spread quickly, and rumors had started. Some states they had seen a shadow attack the place, and that an angry wraith attacked the palace. Another group claimed it was a vengeful ghost that didn't approve of the way the royal family was running their kingdom. Another claimed it was an assassin for the neighboring kingdom of Estol. That one was the closest, but there wasn't enough evidence to prove that this shadow assassin was working for Estol. Drawn out his thoughts by a feminine voice, Kyler snaps out of his trance to listen. 

A beautiful girl with white furry ears speaks up, "Hello every citizen and visitor of our lovely kingdom of Gyrenheer." She pauses for a moment, waiting to attain at least a little bit of attention. Kyler takes the chance to scan her From knees down she has fuzzy white fur, and relatively large paws with claws that must be a hassle to keep clean. Aside from her legs, she is human, and wearing a small skirt with a nice blouse. She has a wolf mask on that covers the top part of her face. She is holding onto the microphone rather tightly and appears to be nervous. The nervousness fades quickly as she continues, "I'm sure this won't come a shock to those of you who pay attention to the news and rumors, but there has been several attacks on the royal family." She pauses again as everyone gasps and looks at her. The wraith of the night, as this mystery assassin was dubbed, was considered a forbidden topic in public. For her to mention it, especially on stage, was outrageous. 

Kyler looked around, sensing the guards tensing and starting to advance to the stage. Stares continue, and so did the girl, "I know many consider this topic may be considered taboo, but I thought to address it, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who senses this intense pressure on the air. I just wanted to say despite this Wraith, we can NOT let it being us down. This is our night of celebration. Our moment of happiness in dark times. If we let this wraith break out spirits, then it will have succeeded its mission. It means to slowly break us, but we still have hope. Our King and Queen still live on, as does their heir." 

Miraculously, the tension eases, and the crowds cheer. The guards stop their advance, and retreat to their positions. Noticing this, the girl smiles broadly, showing off a pair of sharp fangs, "Now. Let's get back to the party! A cheer to the Sadothian Empire!" Everyone cheers loudly, and most of the tension is completely gone. Kyler pouts a bit, preferring the intense mood. Then his annoyance turns to see as the singer starts to sing. Her voice was painstakingly beautiful, captivating everyone like a sirens song. She sang of a small country, about how it was taunted by other larger kingdoms. She sang of trust and kindness, which moved everyone to the edge, straining to hear every note. She sang of betrayal and sadness, bringing tears to the eyes of those who listened. She sang of power, lust, and growth, filling everyone with a feeling of strength and pride. Lastly, she sang of love and prosperity, ending her song on a high note. 

By the time she was halfway done with her song, everything was silent. Every animal and person was listening. Even the planet itself was holding its breath, trying not to disturb this wonderful song of our kingdom. When she finished, no one clapped. Everyone stated in awe, to starstruck to applaud. The girl look more nervous than before, taking everyone silence as dislike. Feeling a bit bad, Kyler clapped from his perch on the roof of a building. At the sound of his clap, everyone snapped out of their trance and burst into applause. Several in the crowd whistled, while others yelled and clapped. 

The girl held her breath in relief, then bow deeply an rushed behind stage. Just like that, the tension gone, everyone started chatting happily, the wraith gone from their small minds. Kyler stayed in his rooftop perch for a bit longer, his thoughts on the singer. He had always had a soft spot for singing, but that wasn't his area of expertise. The song itself was beautiful, but combined with the singer's awe-worthy voice, it was more stunning that anything in the world, aside from a gundark stinger, of course. 

Lost in his thoughts, Kyler's continues to think about the white wolf and her song. So absorbed in his thoughts, he nearly misses the whole reason he came. A clocked figure hides in the shadows of a tavern. At first, many wouldn't think twice about it, but Kyler's knew better. He slides down the tiles, then down on a pile of wood. Once he gets down, he head towards the crown prince. The prince is still clocked in shadows. He had the mask of a lyspren, and a black cloak. The clock did a good job of hiding his bright silver and green hair, but a good eye could still spot it. 

Carefully taking note of the hidden archers protecting the prince, Kyler weaves through the crowd. He purposely bumps into someone, then stumbles away, yelping in fake surprise. He tumbles out from the stream of people, and trips over and imaginary foot. Just as planned, the prince steps out of the shadows and catches his hand. He tugs Kyler back to his feet. 

"Are you alright, you looked like you were having a bit of trouble trying to go against this crowd." 

Kyler forces his face to turn red, and studders, "Y-yeah. I... I w-was f-f-following m-my b-brother. He disappeared on my after I-he saw s-some g-girl in t-the crowd."   
The masks emotionless face states back at Kyler's, and Kyler turns slightly more red, feeling how uncomfortably close he is to the prince. He drops his hands to his side's and backs up slightly. 

Before he can back away to far, as expected, the prince grabs his wrist, forcing him to stay. "I can look for your brother with you if you help me," the prince drops his voice so only Kyler can hear, "I have some people tailing me and I need to lose them before I can help."   
Kyler nods shakily, "Follow me, then let's ditch that mask. They give out free ones pretty much everywhere." 

Unexpectedly pleased, Kyler leads them into the tavern, continuing to describe his "brother". Once they are in the bar, Kyler winks at the barmaid, waving her over. 

"Hey dearie, could you show is the back exit. Gotta couple of bullies coming in and I don't really want to get beat up on such a lovely night." The barmaid nods, not questioning anything, then leads the two boys through the back exit. Kyler snatches two masks before they leave off some drunk patrons. Kyler smiles at the barmaid, "Thanks again." She smiles back at him as he pulls out a couple of coins and drops them in her palm. 

"Stay safe, boys," she says as she walks back inside. Once she is gone, Kyler turns to the prince. He had taken off his mask, revealing his face. It was flawless, tanned to perfection , exactly as a pampered prince should be. Kyler blushes, hesitating for a moment. Kyler looks into the prince's eyes, which were blue, with hints of silver, opposite of his hair. His hair was a whole different story though. It was messy, but in a sexy way that made him look amazing. His hair was silver, with small highlights of blue. It was no small wonder that every girl in the kingdom was madly in love with him. The only question was, who would be the lucky girl to marry into that rich and powerful of a family? They sure would be lucky. 

Kyler rifles out the rabbit-like mask and hands it to the prince. He takes it, gracefully slipping off his old one, and sliding right into the new one. Despite going from a dog like creature to a rabbit, he still looked like a perfect fit for the mask. Kyler slips on his new Fox mask, then looks to the prince. This time, his mask only covers the top of his face, so Kyler could still see his mouth this time, along with his eyes. Kyler's did the same, so the prince could see Kyler's eyes and mouth. The prince was smiling broadly, which sent off butterflies in Kyler's stomach as he smiles back. He quickly stifle them, getting annoyed with the thought of being lumped in with the fangirl stalkers. After all, Kyler didn't know the prince that well. 

The prince must have noticed his nervousness, as he says, "Don't worry, we will find your brother." 

I smile gratefully at him, trying to look grateful through the mask. It was hard to lie to someone so honest. I pang of regret wiggles under my spine and I glance away from his eyes. My face must have gone red again because he laughs, his face going a little bit red as well. He grabs my hand, and drags me along. He looks around, looking for my 'brother', and I struggle to think of something to say to make it stop.   
After about 10 minutes of searching the streets and silence, I finally think of something. 

"He probably went home with that girl," I say, pulling the prince back to a halt. I took a glance around, noticing how far we walked. We must have been walking fast, since the moon didn’t move to much, but we were on the other side of the castle. Wait, the back of the castle was riddled with danger. Suddenly tensing, I start to drag the prince back. 

"What's wrong? You don't have to drag me like I'm a puppet. After all, I'm-" he starts. I pull him close, hushing him. 

"This is the dangerous part of town. Go announcing your wealth, princeling, and we will get robbed." I whisper in his ear. He blushes, then looks away. I give his hand a reassuring squeeze, then continue to lead him back to safety. A few tense minutes pass by, and for what feels like hours, they finally hear the laughter of the party. Before we get there though, three large figures seep out of the darkness. I grimace, wishing it didn't come to this. The prince lets go of my hand and begins to reach for his sword that I hadn't noticed was tucked under this overcoat. How to play this out without giving away what I was. 

They step towards us, and instantly realize that these aren't common thugs looking for money. No, they would have trapped us in an alleyway much farther away. If I screamed, then someone would hear. I glance at them, wondering if they are messengers for my guild. They don't look like it, as my guild rarely hires humans to do messenger jobs. Those are given to lower races such as shen'fay or animals. Not to mention, they don't stagger. They walk confidently, back straight, eyes up, and walking in a straight line. 

Stepping in front of the prince, I said loudly, "I will give you one chance to leave us alone, or you will feel the wraith of night's true fury." I feel the prince's wary gaze turn to me, as he gives me a confused look. Good, if he believes me, then they might to. The group hesitates, but only for a moment. 

"The wraith wouldn't be hanging around with a princeling," he spits, and I rescind my previous judgement. Clearly these were just more practiced bandits. In a flash, I grab my daggers and throw one with deadly precision into the throat of the bandit on the left. He falls to the ground, blood seeping out of the wound. The prince starts to back up, and so do the bandits. 

"So you can throw a dagger and get a lucky landing. Congrats, fake wraith," he laughs darkly. Pride wounded, I decide that his words hurt. Glancing at the light that gives off a faint light, I breath in sharply. The faint glow disappears from the lights, and I hear a gasp of surprise. I knew exactly what I looked like. I look like a wraith. Radiating a faint glow, I give a low growl, 

"Return to your masters, filth, and tell them what has graced your presence."   
I swear I have never seen anyone move so incredibly fast. The two bandits scramble out of the way, slipping like the rats they are into the cracks of buildings so they can scurry back to their mischief of rats. Releasing my breath, the light glides back to there lanterns. I glance back at the prince. He looks... awed and terrified at the same time. I offer my hand to him, waiting for his questions to pour out. Instead, he glances at my hand, then his sword, then looks me dead in the eye. I met his eyes with a blank look, trying to conceal my fear. I needed him to trust me if my plan is to work. 

"You're a...?" 

"Lightbreaker, yes. I can manipulate light, along with three other elements. Serves me well in my profession," I say cooly. 

"Was it a mistake to come with you?" 

A flicker of pain crosses my face and I look away, dropping my hand to my side, "I protected you, did I not?" 

"Are you really the wraith?" 

"No," I say firmly. I'm not, but I know who is. We stand in silence for a moment, and a flicker of worry echos around my mind. We stand together, waiting for the other to make a move. 

After what feels like hours, I give up and kneel before him, "I'm sorry to betray your trust, my prince. I will lead you back to the castle now." 

At the same time, the prince says, "I'm sorry to have expected you to lay all your secrets before me. You did protect me." 

We both laugh, the tension gone. For some reason, I liked that. The prince holds out his hand, "I have a place you might like, mysterious one." 

"Kyler" 

He hesitates for a moment as I take his hand. 

"That's a..." his face turns a bit red, as he leads me away, "...a good name?" 

I laugh again at how awkward he sounds, "thanks. You're name?" 

"Name? Oh, pfft. Soren" He whispers sheepishly. 

I grin at him, getting a sudden burst of confidence, "Handsome name. Very fitting."   
He grins back at me, the actions of the last 10 minutes forgotten. We continue through the streets, a few whispers and pointing, but were overall ignored. Weaving and twisting through the crowds, he leads me around a house, up a long staircase. We climb for what feels like hours, not that I minded though. Once we reach the top, he leads me to a small stone balcony the hangs off the hill. Letting go of my hand, he leans on the stone railing. Moonlight lights up his face, the stars dazzling in his blue eyes. Some heavy lingered in his posture, and I go over and lean next to him, knowing better than to ask questions. 

He glances at me, "You know, you seem different than everyone else. Almost like..." 

"...like we have a strange connection. I've felt it before whenever I saw your picture in the news or when someone talked about you. Thought it was just something strange." I laugh nervously. 

He sighs heavily, "but I'm a prince?" 

“It could work,” I reply. A dangerous thought crosses my mind. What if… I betrayed my guild, and my protection would lie with the prince through marriage. In trade, I could tell them what I know about the wraiths. We stay in silence for a while, both absorbed in our thoughts. Minutes slip away, and it felt like i was trying to catch smoke with my bare hands. He sighs, and I glance at him. 

“I should head back. Otherwise the whole castle will freak out, if they haven’t already.”

I shrug, slightly disappointed, but I offer my hand to him, “I’ll take you back then.”

We head through the winding roads, and I take care to avoid the party and all the whispers. The stars light seems to have dulled, and the happiness in the air has been sucked away. Instead of the usual confomt of the darkness, all I feel is being crushed. From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of confusion on Soren’s face. I squeeze his hand reassuringly for the second time this night. He glances at me, but I don’t return his gaze. Can’t risk spilling leverything, at least, not yet. Running a hand though his silvery hair, he sighs.

“If the Nightmother has chosen us, then everything will be fine. She is never wrong.” I say firmly, trying my best to convince him as well as myself. That seems to be enough, for his tension slips away. A hint still remains, but I can’t blame him. After all, he is the prince. Oh stars, now that I actually think of it, this is impossible. He’s the prince, I’m an assassin. This is never going to work. I hold my sigh in, but I know this will work. I hone in on my sense of confidence as we get closer and closer to the looming palace.

Looking up, I feel so small compared to a massive castle. Lights sparkling within the castle, and it casts a large glow that shines on the small town around it. Towers reach towards the moon, and for a moment, I wonder if I could touch the clouds from all the way up there. Maybe someday I’d be able to see for myself. Unless… Shaking my head, I push the darker thoughts out of my head. We approach the gates when Soren tugs on my hand. I glace back, and he back at me.

“We can’t head through the front. Follow me.”

I nod, following him. He leads me towards the side of the castle, and towards a large Cypress tree. I hesitate, wondering what he plans to do. Letting go of my hand, he reaches up and a vine twists down and wraps around his hand and pull him up. I glance up in shock. He had three powers? It was well known that the prince was a winddancer and a lightningbreaker, but a woodcaller as well? I smirk, wondering again how I got so lucky. I lightweave a ladder and scale it quickly, keeping up with Soren. He grins, clearly glad I’m not falling behind. We reach the top of the tree, and I glance at him. He nods towards the castle, and I instantly understand. Then take a moment to marvel at the fact that I understood him without saying anything. 

He takes a flying leap, and grabs the balcony railing. Heaving himself up, he rolls onto the balcony, then peaks around the corners to make sure no ones coming. He nods once, and I jump. I hold onto the railing, hoisting myself up as well. I slide off the railing, then follow the princling though the halls. Eventually, after dodging several guards, we make it to his rooms. Soren instantly floops onto his bed, and I close the door behind us. His room, despite being so large, is organized chaos. 

“Don’t people clean your room for you?”

“Oh, I don’t let people touch my stuff. I know where everything is, and I prefer it that way.” 

I laugh, not at all surprised, but it feels fake.

“What’s wrong, Kyler?”

I look him dead in the eye, "I was sent here to kill you tonight." The prince instantly scrambles back, tumbling off his bed and grabbing his sword. 

I continue as if nothing happened, "but, my prince, I have a proposition." 

He continues to point his sword at me, "I'll give you three sentences." 

"In trade for you and your family's safety, plus all the information I have on the other deaths, I ask one thing of you." I slide down from my perch on the balcony, then reach into my pocket, pulling out a small black box. Standing a good distance away as to not frighten the prince away, I kneel before him, opening the box. A small purple feather lies within, a promise waiting to be given. A look of shock crosses his face as he knows what I'm about to ask, "My prince, Soren, will you allow me the honor of being your husband?"


End file.
